A lack of trained staff to operate the Upper Hunter equipment full time is said to be forcing patients to go to Newcastle or Tamworth for treatment.

The journeys come on top of the five hours it takes for dialysis, which patients require three times a week to clean their blood in place of kidney function.

The demand for dialysis is expected to become more acute as diabetes cases in the region continue to increase, leading to more people with kidney disease.

Muswellbrook's dialysis unit has three dialysis chairs, enabling it to treat three people, while Singleton has four. The chairs at both centres are only used three times a week.

Hunter New England Health said it had two Upper Hunter residents on the waiting list for dialysis at Muswellbrook and three at Singleton.

Renal stream co-ordinator and nurse manager of community dialysis services Kelly Adams said that as soon as positions became available, these patients would be reviewed for treatment locally.

But the figures suggest those waiting could be treated closer to home if the Muswellbrook and Singleton units operated another three days a week.

Upper Hunter MP George Souris said he had been astonished to learn the area's dialysis equipment wasn't operated full time, and considered it the top health issue in the area.

"It's really a dreadful situation," he said.

"It's all of your day to drive [to Newcastle or Tamworth] and undergo dialysis, when the machines are right there at home."

Mr Souris said he had raised the matter with the area health service and had been told it was a matter of funding and staffing.

"These are two growing towns and you would think it would warrant the investment," Mr Souris said.

Hunter Rural Division of General Practice chief executive Alison Crocker said the need to travel to access services would add to the difficulties facing dialysis patients.

"Patients who are travelling from regional areas may not have the same support base available that they would have if they were being treated closer to home," she said. "It would also be fatiguing."

Ms Adams said the majority of patients in the Upper Hunter who required dialysis treatment administered their own at home.

"Hunter New England Health is aware that there has been a recent increase in demand for dialysis treatment in the Upper Hunter and we are currently looking at ways to meet the current needs," she said.